July 31, 2016 - 9:09pm ... I don't usually finish these travel blogs until well after I'm home... but not today! Today I'm doin' it! I'm finishing this travel blog today!!! ... mainly because I'm home now and anxious to get cleaned up, cook something, and (probably) get back to Game Of Thrones... I "don't have to work tomorrow" so I'm free to be irresponsible with the rest of my evening. ... so today... I had trouble getting out of bed again... I think it was 9:30am by the time I actually hit the shower... the studio is super close to the hotel so I figured I'd be maybe 10 minutes late. ... skipped Tim Horton's on the way... I still had some food from yesterday... it's weird that I've had pretty much no appetite this entire trip... I think it's from Wendy's... that Wendy's was supposed to be good.. but it screwed me up... it let me down! I got to the studio just after 10am and chatted with Justin (GCR Staff) for a bit... if you've run a studio, big or small, you know what it's like to run a studio... and you've got some stories for people on your side of the glass.. I got a text from the band about a Tim's run... bagel it is... iced cap it is... ... I am weak. Today went smoothly... my goal was to be done by 7pm... that way I'd be home by 10-11pm. The band's plan (7hr drive) was to drive a bit then stop the night somewhere. ... bass, background vocals, guitar leads, and a guitar solo left to do. ... it's not much... but sometimes recording there are hiccups... and studios have their gremlins. We went through bass pretty quickly... then dug into vocals for a few hours... I think it was 3:30pm by the time we finished them... I think we'll make that 7pm goal! I'd arranged the day in order of priority... and in a 1 guitar band... I wasn't sure how many overdubs we'd be doing. ... not much. ... even at a leisurely pace, we were done by 5pm. (... the band might make it home tonight... I might make it home by sundown... not that it was a priority but it'd be nice!) We tidied up the studio, put the 6 guitar amp heads (Marshall JCM 800, Marshall MKII, Mesa Roadster, Bogner Ecstasy, Soldano SLO, Peavy 5150) away, wrapped up some cables, settled up with the studio, and hung out in the parking lot for a few minutes... ... it was a pretty awesome weekend... doing the math, 26 hours in the studio and another 9 at the hotel... so 35 hrs between Friday 10am and Sunday 6pm... for our first time working together and in new studio for me... listening back to the 2 songs... we did some good work... good jaorb team! ... I was on the fence about finding dinner before the drive home but the only thing close that wasn't Wendy's (ya did me wrong Wendy!!!) was McDonalds... and while I'm sure it'd be tasty... I wasn't absolutely sure it'd be "2hr drive home" worth it. ... anyway... I had water and chewed gum as a snack and was on my way. The border is super close... easy crossing back into Canada... easy drive back overall... didn't even need my GPS... just over 2hrs door-to-door again. *tear* The goal is to have these tunes done (mixed / mastered) in a couple weeks, then Scarlet White plans to release one in September before tour. If we're friends on Facebook, I'm sure you'll see me sharing it... pretty happy with how it turned out. ... for now... it's back to Game Of Thrones. ... I hope Ned wins. - Mike :-)
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May 15, 2016 - 4:06pm ... I always forget to finish these... probably because I get home and I'm super tired... and the last travel day usually isn't very exciting... figured now is a good time... taking a quick break from editing to watch the Raptor's game... game 7... big game! ... anyway... where were we... oh yes... 3 hours after my last post, I was up and off to the airport. ... randomly selected for a pat down going through security (post body scanner)... obviously still trying to find the balance between "embarrassingly unthreatening" and "sane but barely clothed"... still less stressful than the way there though... no line ups really. Kevin and I (same flight) played on our iPads until it was time to board... ... he was siting in the row in front of me... the woman beside me cracked a joke she was glad to be sitting beside someone skinny... I smiled... it's not the first time I've heard that one on a plane... but this was the first time she's said it... we got chatting... this was her first time flying. This caught me a little off guard... there was an awkward pause after that like she was waiting for me to say something... wasn't sure if I should say something like "flying's great!" or "it's not big deal" or "yeah I don't like flying much either"... I went with "yeah I don't like flying much either". ... in hindsight I should've gone with something more fear neutral. We chatted briefly about it... told her with flying, it's just the take off and landing that probably make people nervous... just forces on the body you aren't used to. You feel it on take off, and then usually a bank/turn soon after so people feel like they're getting their money's worth. She mentioned she isn't a big fan of rollercoasters. I said the difference is rollercoasters are designed to scare you, planes are designed to keep you safe 30,000ft in the air... again... not doing well on the fear neutral responses... but she understood what I was saying. She closed the window and then apologized in case I wanted to see out (I had the aisle seat). I told her I'd probably be asleep most of the flight and not to worry if it made her feel better having it closed... I kept looking out though so she caught on. ... I put my headphones in and closed my eyes while we waited to taxi over for take off. ... she got nervous. I could tell. ... she pulled the shutter down across the window again... we waited on the runway a bit longer... just to bring the shutter back up again and look out. She's probably wondering what's taking so long... in case she's missing something. (... I peeked over a few times to see how she was doing... in case you're wondering.) ... and then we heard the engines rev up. ... anybody who's flown knowns the feeling... that weight on your chest. I sat back calmly in my seat, accepting that if I'm going die in a plane crash (after reassuring a stranger that flying is safe), it's probably happening in the next 5-10 mins... meanwhile my new neighbour is completely mesmerized on the view out the window. She turned and caught me with one eye open. ... the smile on her face. "It's not that bad, eh?" I said, again, still failing the fear neutral stance on the "flying thing". We never did the early bank/turn... so I sorta felt like she wasn't getting the full experience. We continued upwards, monopoly houses below, clouds above. I was curious how she'd react going through the clouds... I always found it kinda neat... it's clouds... it's made of cloud... cloud is a thing. No reaction. ... until we made it above them. She quickly turned her head towards me... I wish I could not only describe the open mouth smile on her wide-eyed face... but share it... it was infectious. "Oh my god... it's so beautiful." "... and it's always sunny up here." :-) ... granted it's day time... she knows what I meant. ... I thought of it during the move back in December... sometimes you don't get to choose how you feel... and it sunk in... Tamara, 53 years old (we never exchanged names but I saw on her declaration card)... really has never flown before. This is a completely brand new experience for her. ... even though we're adults, and most adults eventually lock the door and walk away from new experiences... this was brand new... like how kids experience the world... this was friggin' exciting for her and it's hard to find people to share that kinda stuff with when they can't see it through your eyes... much like my experience passing another plane in the sky on the way to Dallas. I nodded off several times during the flight... sort of trying to ignore the mixed emotions of my own bed and the mountain of editing awaiting me at home... and the juggling of projects waiting to confirm over the summer. ... we made the big bank turn on our approach to Pearson. "... whoa... that's trippy." Landing was good... use of data on my iPhone again was better... I asked how her first flight was... "Not that bad!" *thumbs up* ... Facebook official. She was en route to Istanbul... apparently staying for 6 weeks... not a quick trip for a first time flyer or a short trip for a first time traveller. I wished Tamara all the best with her trip and grabbed my backpack from the overhead storage... she looked the type to wait for the plane to empty out. Kev was in a hurry to get out of there so I figured I'd try and keep up. It was nice getting home early in the afternoon... it took me a couple days to feel "normal" again. I felt basically drunk the next day(s) from so many late nights the last couple weeks. ... it was a quick week though with editing, finishing vocals on The Sole Pursuit album, life, then then CMW conference. ... I might share my notes from the conference... I love hearing smart people talk about things they're passionate about... it's energizing! ... I'll post this later tonight... Raptor's are looking good right now... but too early to call because "Toronto". - Mike :-) P.S. I'm calling it now with just over 3 mins left... Lowry's 3 is the dagger in the Heat's hope... good job Raps! Bring it LeBron!!! P.P.S. Almost forgot... just remembered looking at the pics... I thought I missed it on the Friday, but you can only lean on a guy so much to hit up Niagara Falls for a bachelor party a few hours after getting in from a 2 week business trip... it's pretty rockstar on paper. *cough* Good times. :-) ... the last thing I did before I officially gave into sleep was pull the post down from Facebook and remove the slide show. I was in no condition to judge what I was actually posting... April 17, 2016 - 8:44am So I just re-read my post from late last night... it's not horrible... better than I thought I did actually. I wanted to write about this trip but didn't think I'd run into that wall on day 1! Ah well... I could walk everyone throughout the day again in detail but I think the moment has passed... I find it really difficult to write about the previous day the next day... or after I wake up. Only thing I feel I missed... things feel surprisingly normal here. I've been in the studio non-stop since March 1st, and then traveling with Age Of Days prior to that... so it's been "go, go, go" for a couple months now. Maybe I just haven't changed gears yet but it sorta feels like just another day at the office... not sure how else to explain it... sitting in my pj's, holding off skimming Facebook while friends and family text and message. ... that's probably a big part of it. ... there's quite the thunderstorm going on right now. Kyle joked last night about maybe seeing a tornado... at least I think he was joking... maybe he wasn't joking... ... I've seen all 3 Sharknados... there are no sharks that I know of in Texas. ... saw what I'm pretty sure was a roadkill armadillo yesterday... that was different. So today we have a couple songs we'd like to focus on in preproduction... sight-seeing might force us to work a bit more than we'd like (I'm saying this on behalf of Kyle) because of the weather. Just a quick note about the blog for this trip... it'll be a bit different than my usual tour blog. There's a lot that goes on in the recording process that I believe needs to stay within the studio walls... good and bad, it needs to be a safe zone for ideas, politics, egos, emotions, conflict, etc. There's a reason I don't normally blog about studio days (and sort of why DearBands was born), and it's along those lines. I don't want people I work with to feel like they're under the microscope or worse, everything they do will later be documented and on display. I'll still share some thoughts, but it won't read out like a reality show... wait... those are scripted... you know what I mean. ... time for breakfast! - Mike P.S. Apparently people don't have basements around here... yeah... I know!!! P.P.S. Here are the pics from yesterday. |
Mike Langford - Official BlogBeing on both sides of the glass, I get the chance to wear many hats in the music industry. This is a place to share my thoughts, views, predictions, rants, stories and news! Categories
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